Day: April 23, 2025

Saint-Vincent, Acosta Valley to Varzo, Ossola Valley

Today we drove south, then east, and then north to the Ossola Valley on the Swiss – Italian border. The mountains here are so beautiful. Tonight we are just five miles from the border with Switzerland.

Outside our hotel this morning

Our drive today took us past Lago Maggione. I was at a Sun Microsystems, European wokplace group, management meeting on lake Maggione in 2000. It was Shannon’s 16th birthday so I took her with me. It was fun to see this beautiful spot again almost twenty years later.

First we stopped for groceries
We stopped to walk along the lake a bit
It looked very stormy at the north end of Lago Maggiore where we were heading next

Tonight we are staying at a little B&B, Chalet II Picchio in Varzo

The view from the balcony of our B&B

For dinner we went to the center of the village and had a marvelous meal at Il Negozio Wine Restaurant.

Inside I’ll Negozio
We started with pasta with a mushroom sauce
Then I had beef with a pepper sauce
Duke had pork cheeks
Blueberry Semifreddo for desert

We were waited on by a very nice woman who I assumed was one of the owners. She gave us a bottle of the same wine that we had for dinner (she said it was from her winery) to take with us. It was a wonderful dinner and experience.